Container



Jan. 10, 1939. v .1. T. CHAPMAN CONTAINER Filed April 15, 1937 InvammaJaws T CHnPMnN A'r'roznEw Patented Jan. 10, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENTOFFICE CONTAINER Jesse '1. Chapman, Sikeston, Mo., assignor of twoflfthsto Frederick H. Cole, Sikeston, Mo.

Application April 15, 1937, Serial No. 136.963.

1 Claim. (01. 229-51 ventional packages are unsanitary in one way oranother and are hard to. handle and to store in a refrigerator withouttaking up a great'deal of' 15 room and still, bytheir shape, leaving aconsiderable lost air space between and around them.

It is the main object of my invention to provide a container which willhavenone of these disadvantages and which will, be extremely in-"- 20expensive to manufacture, easyto pack, sanitary and convenient. a w iAnother object is to provide a container which is folded up from asingle blank of material to form an elongated sack-like elementto'receive St the ice cream and with its sides: perforated somedistanceso that they maybe peeled down away from the cream as "itis'eaten, it being evident that the cream maybe eatenin this mannerwithout the hands ever coming in contact with it.

80 Another object is to provide a container of this elongated sack-likeform closed at its lower end and with sealing flaps at upper end whichmay be folded over on themselves to seal the container, the saidperforations running down the as sides of the container from thejunctions of these flaps so that the customer by loosening the flaps andthen pulling on them as required may peel away the sides from the creamas he eats.

Another object is to provide a container of this so kind in which theblank from which it is formed is so shaped that the container whenfilled is substantially square at its upper end portion but tapers 01!and is relatively flat at its lower end v The aforesaid perforations arethen run down 45 the "corners" of the container and are terminated somedistance from the lower end. This shape and arrangement is of greatimportance in that the four sides thus formed at the upper portion ofthe container may be readily peeled back as re- Q. ac quired in theeating of the cream and then, when the limit of the perforations isreached, the remainder-of the cream in the bottom may be readiiy pushedup and eaten by simply queezing the flat tapered lower end of thecontainer. Another advantage irom this shape of the contalner is theease with which a number may be packedor stored. For example, thecontainers may be laid flatwise or side by 'side in a box of such widthas to just accommodate the length of the containers whereupon thesaid'flaps will be held closed and will require no actual sealing.

In this arrangement it will also be evident that there will be no wastedair space in and around the containers thus effecting a saving ofrefrigeration space to the storekeeper. 1

With these and other objects in view the invention resides in the novelconstruction and ar-' rangement of parts as hereinafter fully set forthand claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawing as showinga preferred embodi- 15 ment' of my invention for purposes ofexemplification;

Inthedrawing: j

Figure 1 is a perspective view of my container as filled and sealed. :1w

Figure 2 is an edge view of my container.

- Figure 3 is a perspective view of the container showingtwo sidespeeled off as they would be in eating the icecream from the container. w

Figure 4 is a planview of the blank from which 26 the container isformed.

In carrying out my invention it, provide a blank 3 I ofwaxed,paraiiinedjor otherwiselwaterproofed paper, cardboard or other suitablematerial. This blank is cutto a substantially rectilinear shape 80 witha straight- "lower end or'edgeo and upper end or edge 1 which runparallel with each other and are Joined by the lateral margins or sides8-8 tapering downwardly so that the. blank is narrower at its .lower endas shown. The body 86 of the blank is divided by the fold lines iii-Il--l2- into four panels or sections and the aforesaid upper end I hasthree equally spaced corners or indentations it cut down all to an equaldistance i whereas the outer lines li -l2 run to the lower end, and, theaforesaid indentations I! being located at the upper ends of these foldlines, the flaps thus form extensions of-the four panels 50 defined bythe lines. The upper portions of the outer lines ll-|2 as well as theentirety of the center line iii are defined, and in fact formed bycoextensive lines of tiny perforations as indicated by the npmeral ll.Oneside. as I, of the blank has a narrow sealing flange or lip l'lextended its entire length while the lower end 8 has a similar flange orlip l8 which however extends and is located only between the outer foldlines l|-I2 at the center portion-of the blank. The junction between thelip l1 and the blank is defined along its upper portion by a line ofsmall perforations I60. extending down about the same distance as theothers I6. It will be noted that the lines ll|2 extend substantiallyparallel with the adjacent margins 8-9 so that the center of the blankdefined by these lines has about the same taper as the blank as a whole.

The foregoing completes the blank and it will be apparent that, in thisfiat form, a great number of the blanks may be readily and compactlypackaged, shipped and stored.

In forming up the container from the blank the lateral portions orpanels defined by the lines I l|2 are folded over on the center of theblank end so that it may be readily filled with ice cream or any desiredconfection. The containers may be shipped and stored in this form also.When the container is filled it of" course expands and the upper portionassumes a square shape the corners I9 of which are defined by the linesl6l6a. of perforations and the contiguous sides 20 of which are formedby the four panels set out by the fold lines I0-l I-l2 aforesaid. Duehowever to the tapering shape of the blank 5 as a whole and thetermination of the perforations Iii-46a above the lower end of the blankthe lower portion of the container assumes a relatively fiat anddownwardly tapering shape as indicated at 2| which blends nicely intothe square shape of the upper portion. It will be noted also that thetaper of the blank results in the finished container being of equalwidth throughout its length as viewed from the front or back (Figure 1)facilitating its storage and packing. When filled the flaps H are foldedover on each other in any order and sealed thus closing the upper end ofthe container and protecting the contents. Then to eat the cream thecustomer loosens the flaps, pulls them upwardly and outwardly and peelsthe sides 20 down exposing the cream, the sides being peeled further asnecessary until the limit of the perforations is reached. 01? coursethese perforations tear readily as the sides are peeled. During the timethat the upper portion of the cream is being eaten the heat of the handholding the lower end of the container will have softened the cream atthe lower end and this may thenbe readily forced up as required by withthe food and the container is thus both sanitary and convenient. Sincebut a single piece of material is used for each container and it is ofsuch shape that there will be very little waste material in cutting,this form of container .is

extremely inexpensive enabling the producer to realize a fair profiteven, on the smallest individual sales and without cheapening hisproduct.

In storing the containers in the refrigerator they may be laid side byside and due to their elongated shape they will pack nicely and leavevery little waste air space.

The containers of course may be madein any desired sizes and of anysuitable material.

While I have herein set forth a certain preferred embodiment of myinvention it is understood that I may vary from the same in minorstructural details so as best to provide a practical device for thepurposes intended, not departing from the spirit of the invention andwithin the scope of the appended claim.

I claim:

A container of flexible material and of an elongated, sacklikeformation, square at its upper end portion and gradually tapereddownward to a flat, wedge like form with the lower edge dis- .poseddiagonally relative to the squared upper portion, the said lower endbeing closed, spaced closure flaps extended marginally at the upper endof the container, one from each side of the squared, upper portionthereof, and lines of perforation extended medially along the lowertapered sides of the wedge like portion and merging

